


The Skeld

by Raven_shadow57



Series: Among US (Sander Sides) AU [1]
Category: Among Us (Video Game), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Blood, Character Death, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Being Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Human Impostor(s) (Among Us), Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Implied/Referenced Character Death, It’s Among Us, M/M, Mention of blood, Murder, Remus being Remus, dead bodies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:29:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_shadow57/pseuds/Raven_shadow57
Summary: The time has finally come for their long awaited mission!The Sides will embark on a journey into space for the advancement of the human race and perhaps for themselves too. However, even events that have been planned for years can veer of course.A little too of course.An Among Us Sander Sides AU
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Among US (Sander Sides) AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012545
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Welcome to all new readers and those coming from my other works!
> 
> So, assuming everyone is familiar with the Among Us game, I’m sure you all already now what is to come in this story. For anyone who isn’t, well, you’ve read the tags right?
> 
> Anyway, I have nothing much to say, so... enjoy what is waiting for you! ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑

“Finally, the day has come! A new adventure is being opened to us!”

A tall, handsome brunette stood in front of a towering spacecraft, the Skeld, positively glowing with excitement as he struck a pose. Three other men followed behind him, the shortest, dark brunette one lagging close behind the first, and the other two, one with honey-brown hair and glasses, and the other another brunette with scars on his face, following behind hand in hand. 

“Ooh, I’m so excited too, Roman! We’ve all worked so hard for this,” the one with honey brown hair gushed, Patton, squeezing the hand of the man next to him, Janus, with as much strength as the joy in his smile. 

“Too hard, if you ask me,” the dark brunette grumbled, taking a sip from the coffee cup in his hand. “This better have been worth it. You have no idea how much sleep I have lost for this.”

Janus rolled his eyes at Virgil’s antics as the dark-haired man reached his boyfriend, Roman, who stood with an amused expression now as he watched the other walk right into his chest. It was clearly too early for the short, moody brunette, but Janus knew the other man had become an expert in handling Virgil, moods and all, and loved the emo raccoon very much. It still surprised him, sometimes, how both of them were even in a relationship. They were so different. But it worked somehow. 

“Don’t worry, my chemically unbalanced romance, I’ll make sure it is all worth it,” the tall brunette purred into the shorter male’s ear. 

“Eugh, get a room. No one wants to see that,” another voice called from behind. Janus stiffled his laughter and turned around to greet two more friends. 

“Hey Remus! Hey Logan!”, Patton called from next to him. Said approaching men waved their greetings, one with a wild grin and the other ever composed. 

“You have no right to talk, Rem-rat. You know you do a lot worse in less private places,” Virgil snarled at one of the shorter of the approaching men (but still taller than him), but the vibrant blush on his face decreased the defensive intimidation factor. 

Remus laughed at Virgil’s reaction. “That’s because my Logie-bear is a lot cuter to watch red and squirming under me than some raccoon,” he retorted. Next to him, Logan’s composed appearance slowly disappeared as he blushed deeply at his partner’s words. 

“You see? Exquisite.” Remus grabbed Logan by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into a hot messy kiss. 

“Remus, seriously? Here?”, Janus complained, turning Patton away from the increasingly erotic scene. 

“Come on, brother. Let the teach get a moment to breathe. We still have to change into our suits,” Roman reminded the two men with a chuckle as he pulled his twin off the taller ravenette. 

“Oh, yes! We’ll finally go on a real adventure together, Ro-Ro!”, Remus exclaimed gleefully, letting himself be dragged by his brother. 

“Come on, Lo. Let’s get ourselves suited.” Virgil led the taller, dazed man after the rest of the group. 

////////////////////////////////////

“Uh, what’s with the colors of the suits?”

The group had arrived at the room with their suits and the sights they came upon was not an expected one. Well, not for all of them. 

“It was Remus’ idea,” Logan answered. “He thought it would be ‘fun’ if we were color coded.”

“Is this allowed?”, Virgil asked anxiously. 

“Yes, it was allowed by our superiors. The color will not affect their function, so they allowed it. Of course, our EVA suits must remain white in color since it is necessary for the reflection of heat and such, but our IVA suits do not need such coloring,” Logan assured. 

“Well, are the colors accurate?”, Remus asked with an expectant grin. 

“Personally, I don’t find my color very appealing,” Virgil said, walking up to his suit and glaring at the color in distaste. “I don’t want to be walking around looking like some human sized eggplant.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Roman would love that, especially up his-”

“Remus!”

“What? I’m not telling any lies,” Remus exclaims innocently, looking at Janus. 

“What is he talking about? Why would Roman love Virgil looking like an eggplant?”, Patton asked. 

“It’s nothing Patton, don’t worry about it,” Logan says with a sigh. He stepped over to his own dark blue suit. 

“Okay, well, I like my color,” Patton exclaims, successfully changing the subject. “Cyan always makes me happy. Now I can be happy all the time on the ship!”

“Well, as long as you’re happy I guess I can live in this horrendously bright suit,” Janus commented. 

“I think yellow suits you, Jan. It brings out your eyes,” Patton said, stepping up to him and brushing a hand tenderly over the scars under his eyes. Janus blushed furiously, but let Patton tuck some hair behind his ear. 

“Red suits me just fine,” Roman said,taking the attention away from the other two. 

“Haha, suits,” Patton laughed, immediately distracted by the pun. “Because y’know, the suit’s red and it suits him?”

“Yes Patton, I think they got it,” Janus chuckled lightly, giving his boyfriend a fond look. 

“I don’t get it.” 

“How do I love you, you dork?”, Remus asked, turning to Logan who had just spoken. 

“Because you like mine.”

“Oh my gosh! Can we not destroy Patton’s innocence this trip?”, Virgil exclaimed in exasperation. Roman and Remus broke into laughter at the exasperation of the shortest crewmate. “It’s bad enough we all understand that. We don’t need to add Patton.”

“Apologies, Virgil. I will refrain from making such comments in public. However in private is a different story,” Logan said, a sly glint in his eye at the last phrase. 

“Mm, this is why I love you,” Remus growled, and he pulled Logan into their second passionate kiss of the day. 

“Wait, why can’t I be added?”, Patton asked, ignoring the scene unfolding in front of him. 

“Trust me Padre, you don’t want to,” Roman told him. 

“It’s nothing bad, or dangerous at least...for the most part, but it would make me feel better if you weren’t exposed to all Remus… knows. It’s for the better and you’re not missing out on much,” Janus explained. 

“Yeah, don’t worry Pops! I’m sure Jan-Jan will show you everything eventually,” Remus called out in a short break from the kiss before resuming. 

“Ugh, let’s just go into the ship. I want to sleep on my boyfriend and forget all my annoying friends for a while,” Virgil grumbled. “Except you Patton. You’re my sane buddy,” he added with a smile when he saw the kind man begin to speak.

“You’re not too sane yourself, storm cloud,” Roman told the short brunette. 

“Touché. Let’s just get ready.”

/////////////////////////////////

It took the planned five hours for all the final preparations to be completed. By the time the final countdown was taking place, it was past 1300 hours. Ten minutes later, the rocket had reached orbit and the rumble of the engine lowered considerably. 

“Brrr, I never get used to all that vibrating,” Patton commented as the group began to unbuckle themselves from their seats after gravity had been normalized inside the ship.

“You and me both,” Roman complained, staying slumped in his seat.

“Aww, don’t tell me brother dear was scared?”, Remus cooed teasingly as he went over to help his brother stand. 

“No! I was just...uncomfortable.”

“Enough chit chat, all of you, we’re not free from work yet,” Janus told them. 

“Janus is right. We must go find the captain and receive our tasks,” Logan agreed. 

“Geez, aren’t you both the life of the party,” Virgil huffed. 

“Don’t worry, Virgil, we’ll have some downtime soon,” Patton assured the younger man. 

They left the small crew compartment and went up to the navigation room where their commander and pilot was. 

“I see our superiors let you carry out your idea, Remus”, the commander grinned as the crew gathered in the small area. 

“Yes, sir,” Remus said with an answering grin. “I have Logan to thank for it though. I’m still surprised that he managed to convince them.”

“Well, I’m not. Logan has a good head on his shoulders and knows how to use it. Both him and Janus have a way with words, although Janus could use more knowledge,” the older man laughed. Logan blushed at the praise, while Janus smiled somewhat sheepishly. Patton patted his arm comfortingly. 

“And, if pour little Virgil could find a way to better express himself, he would be a force to be reckoned with as well,” the commander added, throwing the shortest crew member a teasing grin. Virgil rolled his eyes and looked away in good-natured grumpiness. 

“So the rest of us aren’t forces to be reckoned with?”, Roman asked in mock offense. 

“I think I fear their superior intelligence over both of yours strength,” the commander laughed. “And, honestly, I don’t think there is anything to fear about Patton.”

“Aww, thanks commander. That’s exactly what I’m aiming for,” Patton said in such an innocent voice everyone did a double take before Patton’s laughter at their shocked faces made them all laugh as well. 

“Never mind. I think I have reevaluated my choices,” the commander said. “Anyways,” he continued, “as much as you all love me and came here for the one and only reason of seeing me, I must betray you by giving you a bunch of work to do.”

“Bummer,” Janus drawled. 

“Indeed. You know where everything on the ship is and all the different rooms, so I don’t need to explain anything. Just let me upload them to your communication devices and… there we go, you should have your tasks.”

A collective ‘ping’ instantly echoed around the room and each crew member took out the small tablets provided for this mission. 

“You got them?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Then off you go.” 

The crew walked out, still reading over their tasks. 

“Anyone have to go to Electrical?”, Virgil asked as they walked back to the cafeteria. 

“Oh, I do,” Patton exclaimed. 

“Cool, then we can go together. I hate that room.”

“Aw, liwle Virgy is still scawed of the creepy room,” Remus teased. 

“I’m not scared! I would just prefer some company to being alone. And you have to admit that room is a little unnerving,” Virgil defended himself, a light blush of embarrassment covering his face. 

“Don’t worry, Virgil. Your happy, pappy Patton won’t leave your side. I could use the company in that room too,” Patton said the last part sheepishly. “One would think that as the electrical room it would be a lot brighter than it is.”

“And one would think that as an adult you would be less scared of the dark.”

“Remus,” Janus and Logan reprimanded in unison, the first a lot more threatening than the second. 

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Rems. I know you don’t mean it in a bad way,” Patton dismissed lightly. 

“Let’s go?” Virgil asks and with a nod Patton and Virgil leave the group to head down to Electrical. 

“It seems we part ways now. I have some jobs to do in the medical area, so I’ll be heading there now if any of you need me,” Logan announces as well. 

“I’ll go with you, Logan. I have to go to one of the engines,” Janus adds, and the two head off to the left hallway. 

“Seems like it’s just you and me, bro,” Roman comments, now alone with Remus. 

“Yup. What you got?”

“Oh, um, I have to go to admin.”

“Oof, guess we’re parting ways too. I have to go to the shields area.”

“Guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Yup. Later, bro.”

Roman headed down to admin, while Remus took the long way around to shields, which was weird but so was his brother so whatever. 

He spent some time in the small admin room, spitting out profanities that could have single-handedly destroyed his childhood monsters, as he struggled for a good three minutes trying to get access to the mainframe with his card. Then he downloaded some data from the spacecraft, mostly just regulation monitoring records on the ship’s status. He checked his tablet for the next step of this task and saw he had to send it to HQ. That meant the communications room. 

He started down the hall when he realized the doors opening to storage were closed. Huh. 

He walked up to them and tried to use his card to open the doors, but nothing happened. Was someone overriding the ship's system? Or maybe the commander had locked them for some reason?

In any case, it seemed he would have to go the long way around to communications. At least he’d be able to ask the commander about the doors, and see his brother too. 

“Hey, why were the doors by storage locked? Commander, sir?” Roman added hastily as he walked into the navigation room. 

“Locked?”

“Yeah. I was going to go through the storage room to communications, but the doors to storage were closed.”

“And your card didn’t open them?”

“No, sir”

“Hmm. Must have been a malfunction. I hope it’s nothing grave. We still have a ways to got till we reach Polus and we can’t have our spacecraft breaking down this early on the trip,” the commander pilots mused. “I’ll keep an eye on the problem, Roman. Thank you for telling me.”

Roman nodded, excused himself, and continued on his way to comms. He met Remus in the hall, but they were both on their way to finish their tasks, so they didn’t stop to chat. Roman entered the communications room and was almost done sending the data he’d picked up from admin to HQ when a sudden alarm from his device shattered the comfortable, rumbling silence of the room. 

“Flipping daisies on a mountain top!”, he exclaimed, pulling the electronic device closer to him. A small notification hung from the top of the screen. 

“Emergency meeting? Huh, wonder what that’s about. Maybe the door problem is actually a problem.”

He finished uploading the data, then headed up to the cafeteria where everyone else was probably gathered by now. 

“Where were you?”, Virgil asked him immediately, almost throwing himself at the tall brunette. 

“Woah there, sunshine, I know you missed me, but I’m here now.” Roman says in surprise as he gently stops the shorter male from colliding into him. “What’s up?” 

“Answer Virgil’s question, Roman,” Janus says in a weirdly serious voice. 

“I was in the communications room,” Roman answers slowly. He sees Patton and Virgil share a nervous glance while Logan takes on a calculating look. Remus, who also seems to have recently reached the place, seems just as confused as he is. 

“What’s going on here?”, Roman asks, his heart beginning to pump with trepidation. 

“How about you tell us, Roman?” Janus challenges. 

“Tell you what? What is happening?!”

“You seem to be getting really agitated, Roman.”, Janus observes, still watching him with a calm gaze. 

“Of course I am agitated! You seem to be accusing me of something I don’t even know has happened,” Roman snapped. 

“The commander is dead.”

“...What?”

“The commander is dead, Roman,” Virgil repeats, arms hugging his form protectively as he does and Patton moves to hug him as well. 

Roman and Remus froze in shock. 

“The commander was murdered and since we are the only ones present on this ship it is only logical that one of us was the murderer,” Logan continues in the ensuing silence. “And we have reason to suspect it must have been either Roman or Remus.”

“Wait, what? Why me?” Remus asks, shock and hurt evident in his at being named a suspect by his own boyfriend. 

“The whereabouts of everyone else can be accounted for, except for the two of you,” Logan explains, avoiding eye contact with Remus. “Patton and Virgil were together in electrical, Janus and I stayed together as each of us did our tasks in our different locations. However, seeing how you two came in separately, you two are the only ones who have been alone on the ship.”

“So I hope you don’t mind answering a few questions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe... how was that? Expected? Okay. Things will start escalating next chapter, just you wait. 
> 
> In the meantime, don’t forget to leave a kudos and maybe even a comment if you enjoyed the chapter. These all drive me to write! I’m kidding. I would write anyway. But, it still makes one happy. ^-^
> 
> Anyway, everyone take care and stay safe.  
> Protect and support each other!  
> Till next time~! Peace!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some interrogation...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am back with another chapter to offer!
> 
> I don't really have anything to say, so... I'll just let you go ahead and start reading ^^''
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

_“So I hope you don’t mind answering a few questions."_

“Both of you were the last ones to go do your tasks since Patton and Virgil left first, then Janus and I. What tasks were you two doing and where?” He watched the two brothers closely, although he still couldn’t keep eye contact with Remus for long.

“Well, we separated in the cafeteria. I had to go to admin to download some data on the ship’s status and whatnot, then send it to HQ in comms,” Roman says, still looking confused.

“Remus?” Logan prompts when the second brother didn’t answer. 

Remus sighs. “I had to go down to shields, make sure things were running okay there, then I went up to weapons to get some replacements for somethings in shields.”

“I didn’t hear you go down through storage,” Virgil tells Remus, speaking up quietly. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t hear anyone go through storage.”

“You can hear people in storage from electrical?”, Logan asks skeptically. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Virgil, seeing how he’s reacting to all this, but he also wasn’t too keen on believing his boyfriend was a murder. Besides, emotions could be falsified. 

“He has, like, super-hearing,” Roman vouched with an easy smile and a fond glance at Virgil. 

“Yeah, I can account for that,” Janus adds with a sigh. Logan nodded slowly but made a mental note of that. 

“Well then, if Virgil’s comment is to be acknowledged, then would both of you mind explaining why you did not cross through storage? It is obvious that is the shorter route to your tasks,” Logan continued heavily. 

“I actually don’t know why Remus didn’t go down through storage to shields,” Roman says with a frown. “He just...went the long way around.” 

“I didn’t want to make it awkward between Roman and me cuz we had just said goodbye,” Remus shrugs, but Logan notices the nervous shift in his eye. He sees Janus and Virgil notice it too and Logan is feeling nervous for Remus now. He just… it can’t be Remus, right? He would be better at...hiding things, right?

“That is very suspicious, Remus,” Janus says slowly. 

“I mean, I would do the same,” Virgil commented quietly, referring to the reason for Remus' weird pathing and Logan wants to grab onto that wild, random string that could save Remus, but… he has to be logical. 

“Perhaps, Virgil, but you must admit that in this case, an action like that can only seem suspicious,” he says slowly, keeping his gaze even more firmly away from Remus as he does. 

“Wait, no it wasn’t me. I didn’t even stop by navigations. But I think Roman did, afterward. He came down from there on, what I assume was, his way to comms,” Remus added quickly and Logan almost sighed with relief at the additional information. He could work with this. 

“Hey, are you trying to throw me under the bus here?”, Roman exclaimed, offended and hurt by his brother’s words. 

“Sorry man, but I will not be framed for a murder I did not commit.” Logan nodded along to Remus’ words in his mind. It did not serve to have emotional ties in these types of situations.

“Well, Roman? Now we know you also took the long way by navigations to comms. Why? Why not just go by storage?”, Janus asked. 

“I couldn’t. The doors at the end of the hall to storage were closed,” Roman told them. 

“Couldn’t you open them with your card?” Patton asked. 

“No. I tried, but they wouldn’t open. So I went around and decided to stop by navigation to ask the commander.”

“But the doors were open just fine when we went by,” Virgil spoke up again, confusion evident in his voice. 

“Well, I don’t know about that, Virgil, but the doors were closed and locked for me,” Roman snapped. He was getting defensive, Logan noted. 

“Who found the body anyway?” Remus asked, averting the attention away from his tense brother. Logan could have cursed. They should have kept pushing Roman. However, he answered the question anyway. 

“Virgil and Patton. Or, well, Virgil, more specifically. Patton was in the oxygen regulator room and Virgil decided to go into Navigation.” Then Virgil had seen the body, Patton had helped the younger man to the cafeteria and sent the alarm to everyone. Janus and Logan had gotten there only seconds later and had gotten the gist of the situation from a shaken Virgil.

“Well, what if it was Virgil?” Remus asked and Logan almost killed the man himself. 

“Remus!” Roman exclaimed, pulling Virgil protectively to his side. Said man tensed and shrunk into himself at the accusation. 

“What?! Our crew, our friends, are already accusing us of murder. So why can’t it be one of them as well?” Remus questioned angrily. He was getting defensive too. 

“No, it couldn’t have been Virgil,” Patton spoke up. “The time between him leaving me in O2 and then running back from Navigation is way too short to have killed someone.” 

“And you didn’t see any clues, stormcloud?” Roman asked Virgil gently, his earlier irritation seemingly gone. Could it be chalked up to stress, or was Roman trying to gain credibility from his lover?

Virgil shook his head as he had when Logan had asked him the same question earlier and they all turned back to the information they had. 

“Then we are back to where we were,” Janus pointed out. “Roman claims the doors were closed on him and he went to navigation to ask the commander. Of course, the commander is no longer alive to support his claim,” he adds cynically. 

“I swear I talked to him. He was confused about the door issue as well but told me he would keep an eye on it. Then I walked out and as I kept going down the hall, I met Remus going the opposite way as me,” Roman told them. Geez, what was with all of this added information? Couldn’t they share all of this as part of their first story?

“Yeah, I was going to get some replacements for the shield generator,” Remus defended himself, seeing the question in their eyes.

“Well, if you went up, then you saw the commander still in navigation, right?” Patton asked quietly. 

“Yeah. I think I saw him there. I mean, I didn’t go in, but everything seemed normal.” The casualness of that statement could be either incriminatory vagueness or innocent ignorance. 

“Okay. So, Roman, after passing Remus in the hall, where did you go?”, Logan asked after a few seconds of thought. 

“To the communications room. Like I said, I had to send the data to HQ,” Roman answered easily. 

“And Remus, you went back down to shields?”

“Yeah. But I swear I did not kill him then. And before you ask me ‘why are you adding that, Remus?’ It’s because I can see the suspicion in your eyes already, Janus, Virgil.”

“Sorry,” Virgil apologized, ducking his head. Janus shifted his gaze away momentarily in embarrassment. 

Logan sighed, sliding off his glasses and massaging his forehead. “There are still so many unknowns in this case and I cannot, in good conscience, accuse anyone of this murder yet. However—”, he continued loudly before Janus could interrupt in disbelief—“we also cannot ignore the information we do have so far, which points Roman and Remus as our main suspects.” Much as he regretted that. “So we are going to keep both of you under constant watch,” he decided, a plan slowly forming in his head. “We are also going to travel in groups of three, to avoid being alone with any other person. Just because only Roman and Remus seem like the culprits, it does not mean the rest of us are free from suspicion.” He paused to let the others nod gravely before continuing. “So the first group will be Patton, Remus, and I and Janus, Roman, and Virgil will form the other group. We will continue to complete our tasks in these groups because we do have to keep the spaceship working properly. Be warned, if you separate from the group, you will be regarded as suspicious. Make sure your group is always aware of where you are and what you are doing.”

Silence settled around the crew members as they took everything in. Slowly they nodded, nervous understanding in their eyes. He had made the groups as balanced as he could. 

Logan nodded approvingly with them. “Then I believe we can conclude this meeting. Patton, Remus, do you have any room you would prefer to go to first?”

“Um, yeah. I have a task in the reactor room.”

“Same here.”

“Very well. I have a task in the upper engine room, so this works nicely. Let us go?”

Janus, Roman, and Virgil watched as their three companions walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the three of them in awkward silence around the central table. 

“So... where do we go first?”, Roman asked them. 

Janus pulled out his tablet. “I have to dump the trash here in the cafeteria.”

Roman and Virgil looked at their own tablets. 

“I don’t have any tasks here,” Virgil said. 

“Oh, I have one in the weapons room.”

“So you can both wait while I do my task here, then we’ll follow Roman, and then Virgil I guess,” Janus planned. 

Virgil frowned. “Why not let Roman do his task while you do yours? It would save time and the weapons room is right there.”

“Roman is a suspect right now, Virgil. I don’t think it would be wise to let him out of our sight,” Janus retorted, annoyed at Virgil’s naivety. He understood the emo raccoon was weak for the over-enthusiastic drama king, but seriously?

“Then I’ll go with him.” Janus almost facepalmed. “We’re not that far from you, Janus. Weapons is literally next to the cafeteria,” Virgil said, with his own annoyed eye roll. 

“Come on,” he urged when he saw Janus’ dubious frown. “You’ll be right by the door and I promise I won’t get mad if you check on us constantly during your task.”

“Alright, alright, fine. If you’re willing to promise that then I guess I can accept it.” Janus rubbed his brow in defeat. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but Virgil would only continue to bug him otherwise, with the possible involvement of Roman too. 

“Just… if I do decide to check on you, do not let me catch you doing anything inappropriate, please,” Janus added. 

“You’re just jealous of us,” Virgil teased while Roman stuck his tongue out. 

“I’m not jealous, I have Patton. Now, start being useful and leave me alone.”

Roman laughed with Virgil, and the two ran out of the room. Janus shook his head fondly as he watched them go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is that foreboding feeling you have? Why, I have no idea.... ^-^
> 
> So, we have some suspects. I wonder which one is the murderer?  
> Or is it one of the others?  
> Patton seemed fairly silent...  
> Logan was quite defensive of Remus.  
> Janus is an interesting one...   
> Roman is a great actor, did you know?  
> Virgil found the body. 
> 
> Well, there will be time to think about this as you wait for the next chapter. ψ(｀∇ ´)ψ  
> It should be out by next week, or maybe this Friday, but who knows.   
> Anyways, until then, stay safe everyone!  
> Goodbye~


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is the sense of foreboding worth paying attention to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!!!!  
> It's been a while! Last time I was around was last year. But I'm back in this new year now!!
> 
> Too bad it hasn't started so great, but oh well I guess. Let's hope is not too worse than last year. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope this new chapter brings at least a little joy to your life. Despite the murder....
> 
> So yeah. forgive me for any grammar mistakes. 
> 
> Also, WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: BLOOD/DESCRIPTION OF BLOOD, DEATH/ IMPLIED (MENTIONED) DEATH/ KIND OF A PANIC ATTACK, AND CURSING
> 
> Yeah, we're getting into the action (kind of) now. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Janus shook his head fondly at the two younger men who laughed as they walked out of the cafeteria to the adjacent Weapons room. At least they could still laugh at stupid things. That was heartening, especially in the situation they all found themselves in. 

Janus sighed again and forced himself to move towards the lever of the trash chute and away from his troubled thoughts. 

He pulled the lever and the loud rumbling of the trash chute working rose immediately. Why would any of them kill the captain? The man was so kind and had known their group for quite some time. It was one of the reasons why the man had been chosen to be their pilot and captain on this important flight: they’d all been around for quite some time and the man had been very experienced. 

It just… it just didn’t make sense for Remus or Roman to have done this. Sure, Remus was a little unhinged sometimes, but he was fiercely protective of those he considered friends and the captain had been far from a stranger to the group. From that perspective, it made Roman seem even less like the killer. While he could be very passionate and outspoken about certain things, he was also the most loyal to their friends in their group, and Roman also had much more control over his emotions than his brother. 

But the others didn’t seem like any better options to be killers. Obviously, one of them was because how else would the captain have died? Many tests had been done before this expedition to ensure their mental health was good, so it couldn’t have been the man himself….

Ugh, this whole situation sucked. Janus had not signed up for a murder mystery. He was not like Logan and Virgil. Those two enjoined scenarios like these, although not in real life, and they were smart enough to figure things out and thrive in them. He himself wasn’t as good in the decisive department in these scenarios and found them to be more of a bother, but he was good with his words and could hold his own. 

The trash chutes rumbling finally stopped, plunging Janus into silence again and pulling him out of his thoughts once more. He checked the chute, making sure all the trash had been emptied out. Now he had to go empty the trash chute in storage. He could do that on the way down to Virgil’s tasks. 

Wait… why couldn’t he hear Roman and Virgil?

He knew for a fact those two could not be quiet when they were together. So why couldn’t he hear anything from the next room? Not even the machines….? That shouldn’t be possible, unless… 

“Fuck,” he whispered, slamming a hand on the closed door to Weapons in frustration. Virgil was on the other side with a possible murderer. Roman had seemed quite genuine as he was questioned, but the man was a great actor. He could probably convince himself he hadn’t killed someone or that he hadn’t done any wrong. And now that man was alone with Virgil. 

Janus began to run down the hallway to get to the weapons room the long way. He swore to God, if Virgil was dead Janus would make sure this two-faced, murdering, son of a witch got what he deserved. 

Janus ran through storage, then down the hall to the communications room. He could barely hear the echo of his heavy boots on the metal floor over his erratic breathing and the rushing blood in his ears. He ignored the pain in his thigh when he hit it on the railing in the shields area and continued to run down the next hallway. He turned the corner, right at the entrance of navigation, _(right next to the first murder scene. oh god. was there another one?)_ and he froze. 

He stopped so abruptly in his tracks that he almost fell over, but nothing could make him tear his eyes away from the scene. 

God... _why was there so much blood?!_

_It was dripping on the wall and splattered over the floor and it was spilling out of the oxygen room...why was it in the oxygen room?!_

“Janus.”

Janus’ gaze snapped to Roman. _Hero Roman covered in the remains of his latest exploit. Shoes of red that melted into the floor and spread and spread and- dear god, **that was so much blood!**_

“Wait! Janus-”

Janus didn’t even realize he was no longer in front of the- _blood red, dark spots, everywhere_ \- scene. He was running- _running again_ \- down the halls away from- _a body, broken and mangled, distorted with blood, ironically without oxygen in a room named for it_ \- the...the scene. Yet the scene was in front of him, again and again, everywhere he looked there was more red, red, _red_. 

He had to get to the others. 

_They would figure out what to do together. They would not let Virgil… **Virgil** … He was gone… **gone, gone gone** … oh god… By **Roman…**_

_Roman…_

_Roman was surely behind him. Quick, close the doors as you run past. Hand on the pad… hurry, hurry...done. Through storage- why was it so dark?- close another door, past electrical- Virgil had been there only minutes ago- close another door, now he’s in the lower engine room, close the next door- in the reactor room, he can hear them. So obliviously carefree, they talk and **laugh. Stop laughing! Virgil is dead!**_

_He said that out loud…_

“Janus?”

“Virgil is dead?”

“What?”

“It’s Roman. Oh _god, it’s Roman. There was so much blood… on him, under him, on the floor, on the wall… it was too much blood…”_

“Janus, follow my breathing. In… out… good. Keep going.”

“It’s okay, baby, we’re here. You’re safe here.”

“Patton.” Janus gasped breathlessly. He reached a hand out for said man who was quick to join him on the floor _(why was he on the floor?)_. 

He could see. Logan was in front of him, Remus at his side- _so alike to his-_ , -the reactor behind them, lights above, and Patton’s hair in his eyes. 

He could feel, _more than the adrenaline in his veins and the fire in his legs_. Cold metal under his knees- _throwing echoes all around him of thundering footsteps_ -, tough, yet soft, fabric of the space suits- _soaking the darkness of red_ -, Patton’s hand rubbing circles on his back, and the warmth of his other hand holding Jan’s tightly. 

He could hear, _above the rush in his ears_. The whirring of the machines- _that disappeared before…_ -, the comforting, sweet nothings from Pat, and whispering from Logan and Remus. 

He could breathe. The metallic- _blood_ \- smell forever prominent in the space ship, at least to him, and the fresh, lavender scent from Patton’s hair. 

And he could taste salt on his lips- _because when you lick a cut it’s_ \- no. The salt was...tears? He was crying. 

“Janus, can you tell us where Roman is?” Logan asked when he saw Janus had calmed down. 

“I-I… I don’t k-know. I… he was by the oxygen room. I found him there… a-and I saw the b-blood, so I ran and I closed all the doors on my way because Roman had trouble with them earlier and they might slow him down again now, but now I don’t know how close he is-!”

“Hey, it’s okay Jan-Jan,” Remus assured his friend. “When he gets here, we can take him. You know I’m stronger than my bro.”

“Affirmative. The possibility of Roman escaping all four of us is unlikely. He will be contained and face justice,” Logan assured coldly. 

“What will we do with him?” Patton asked, still holding Janus.

“He should die.” The three stable men looked down, surprised by the sudden fierceness of Janus’ tone. “That bastard deserves to fucking _die_. He killed Virgil! He killed the captain! He made a fool out of all of us! And he… he played with Virgil’s heart and then ripped it out! He has to fucking die! He doesn’t deserve to live…”

Patton slowly calmed his boyfriend down again, whispering reassurances and rubbing circles into his back while Logan watched on with cold apprehension and Remus stared at the entrance of the room with hatred. Their expressions told Patton Roman would be harshly dealt with when he appeared at the door frame. 

Patton… didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t feel like Janus did, trembling in his arms from enraged grief. Nothing inside matched the coldness of Logan’s and Remus’ eyes. And when he thought of Roman, covered in blood, and of Virgil, laying on the other side of the ship, his heart felt like it was...gone and with it all he should feel. 

Maybe that’s why he only stood with Janus and watched as he, along with Remus and Logan, verbally assaulted Roman when he appeared in front of them. 

Maybe that’s why he only stood and watched as Remus grabbed his brother and manhandled him out of reactor and to the security room across the hall, uncaring of the blood staining his own green suit. 

Maybe that’s why he only stood and watched as Logan coldly rebuffed every word that came from Roman’s mouth. He heard, but couldn’t listen to what he said, what any of them said, so maybe that’s why he couldn’t understand the desperation and disappointment on Roman’s face when he turned to him. He couldn’t understand why he suddenly only saw Janus’ back in front of him, vaguely noticing more than feeling the rage in his posture. 

Maybe that’s why he suddenly woke up, still in the space ship, just in a different room, still in the same life, just with a little more feelings, and he was finally able to cry. For the captain, for Virgil, and for Roman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was that? I hope it was...enjoyable ψ(｀∇ ´)ψ
> 
> Also, sorry it's a little short and I hope the end didn't feel rushed. ^^''  
> But don't worry if it did feel short. The next chapter is already written and will be posted either on Saturday or Sunday (or maybe even tomorrow!), so look forward to that!
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for your support and don't forget to leave kudos if you can, or even a comment! It always makes my day to know people actually enjoy my work ^-^  
> So, see you all in a few days!  
> Take care and stay safe!!  
> Bye~


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone is more than a little traumatized and drained overall, but at least they’re safe now, right? ....Right.....?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hulloooo! As promised, here is the next chapter!!  
> We get some more angst and stuff here so, yeah... ^^’’
> 
> WARNINGS: BLOOD, MORE MURDER, MENTIONED DEATHS. 
> 
> That’s it, I think. SO, enjoy~!

“How is he?”

Janus looked up from next to Patton to see Logan standing in front of him, just across the cafeteria table. Patton continued sleeping next to him, blissfully unaware. 

“ _Just dandy_ ,” Janus snapped bitterly. 

Logan sighed. “Your sardonicism won’t help the situation, Janus,” he told the scarred man. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Let me just pull out my _charming personality_. I’m sure I can find it among the memories of my _dead friends_ ,” Janus retorted angrily. The nearly imperceptible flash of guilt and grief in the other man’s eyes made Janus reel in his own emotions. “Sorry, Logan, I just… Patton cried for a while. He stopped like, half an hour ago and has been sleeping since but… he just wasn’t here, you know?” Janus looked back down at the sweet man beside him and gently brushed some of that honey-brown hair. “He seemed to be… away for the longest time. I don’t know when it started but I noticed only after I took him out of the room when Roman began yelling at him. It was like he saw but… he didn’t. I don’t even know if he knows what we did… to Roman…”

The two men lapsed into silence, trying to ignore or get rid of unwanted memories. It was hard with the constant, quiet vibration of the ship reminding them of what...of who… were missing. It took all of Janus’ willpower to keep from screaming into the oppressive silence of what now seemed like just a floating metal hell, with its mechanical lights and unforgiving silver being the only thing separating them from the cold, infinite dark outside. 

“I don’t know how he’ll react when he wakes up and does find out,” Janus spoke again, trying to fill at least the inside with some more humanity. 

“How about you? How are you feeling?” Logan asked, seeming to feel the same and willing to keep words flowing, if only for a moment longer. 

“Tired. But I can’t sleep,” Janus answered. “I tried, but… there’s just some things you’d rather not relive, you know?” 

Logan nodded silently. 

“Besides that,” he continued, “I feel… drained. Numb. I’m not okay, I know that much. There were plenty of feelings earlier to tell me that. But now I just feel empty.” Janus pulled his hands back to himself and stared down at them. “I feel disconnected, like I’m watching something that isn’t me. But I know it’s me… It just doesn’t feel like it. It doesn’t feel like it should be. I guess that’s why I feel so talkative,” he said with a small chuckle, but there was no mirth in it. No anything. “It feels like if maybe I talk it will make sense.”

He looked up to study Logan’s face, who still stood across from him silently listening and nodding in quiet understanding. He wondered what the man was feeling. What was going through his own head? It was always hard to read Logan, but now it seemed impossible. He knew there must be feelings. After all, condemning a lifelong friend to a slow death in the unforgiving vacuum of space for the death of two other friends did not leave a person without something to show for it. 

“How about you, Logan? How are you feeling?”

“I… don’t know…” Logan stared off into nothing for a few seconds, a soft, confused frown on his face before he shook his head, an attempt to clear the mess. “I should go check on Remus. I’ll try to bring him here. We should stick together.”

With a firm nod, more to himself than to Janus it seemed, the stoic man walked out of the cafeteria, like he had only hours before. 

Wow. This had all happened in less than four hours from arriving. It seemed like so much longer. 

/////////////////////////////////////

Janus slowly opened his eyes and stared at the honey brown hair covering his face with drowsy confusion. He could feel his back, arms, and chest were sore and stiff, and when he straightened up he realized why. 

Right. He was still sitting on the cafeteria table, Patton still sleeping next to him, his quiet breathing peaceful enough Janus felt sleep tugging back at him. 

He hadn’t even noticed when he’d fallen asleep. It must have been a while ago if his sore body was any indication. He rubbed at his eyes, the familiar lights of the spaceship hurting him with their mechanical brightness. He noticed Remus was sleeping across from him, which meant he must have fallen asleep after Logan left for the shorter man. The only one missing now was Logan… and _them_. But they weren’t coming back, he remembered. 

He shook his head and pushed himself up. He couldn’t think about that now. The team was still on a mission and they had other tasks to finish. They had to keep moving, especially since he had no idea how long they had all wasted. Logan would know. 

He walked over to the small adjacent room to the cafeteria, where the food was stored. It was as good a place as any to look for the genius man. 

“Logan?” He called quietly as he stepped inside. A grunt answered his call. 

“What are you doing?”, he asked, moving further in. He spotted Logan by some of the pockets lining the walls, picking through the food packets in them. 

“Just thought I would get some food for the rest of you. After 6 hours of sleep I assume the human body would wake up hungry,” the man answered. 

“Yeah, I guess. Wait...6 hours? We’ve been sleeping for 6 hours?”

“Yes. That is what I just said.”

“Why didn’t you wake us up?! We have tasks to do Logan! We’re still on a mission!” Janus exclaimed. Logan gave him a sharp glare over his glasses. 

“I am still aware of our jobs, Janus. You cannot believe I would simply forget about them. However, I also know that experiencing major traumatic events in a short time period does not bode well for mental health. A lacking mental health in our area of work would not bode well for the rest of the mission, so I decided to allow you all some rest. I also,” he continued before Janus could insert something again, “completed some of the more urgent tasks with Remus before he fell asleep. When the others wake up, we can finish the leftover tasks. Most center around the back of the ship.”

Janus nodded slowly, a little embarrassed and guilty for underestimating Logan, but not apologetic for it. Forgive him for feeling paranoid, alright?

“What has the headquarters said about these incidents?” Janus suddenly remembered. 

Logan frowned. “They haven’t answered. I’ve been constantly checking the messages I sent to our superiors, but none seem to have even been received. I don’t think we’re getting any help from them.”

Great. Another problem.

“Also, don’t worry about the...crime scenes. All tasks near those areas have been completed and I cleared the navigation room, so only the oxygen room center and the hallways leading to navigation and the weapons room have been locked off. I don’t think anyone else needs to see that.”

“But you did…” Janus pointed out. Logan looked away from him and grabbed one more food packet before walking past him. 

“Did you sleep?” Janus pressed, following his crewmate back to the cafeteria. At Logan’s continued silence he almost gave up on receiving an answer, but then Logan spoke up. 

“As you said before, there are some things you prefer not to relive.”

Janus stayed quiet after that, only watching as Logan distributed the food packets in his hands to their sleeping companions and then to Janus. He was worried for Logan, seeing how the man hadn’t gotten a moment of rest like the rest of them and had seen a lot more than they had too. He knew Logan was the most sane of them all, but under these circumstances…

“Maybe you should sleep now-”

“Guys? What time is it?”

Janus cursed under his breath while Logan only gave him a pointed stare before answering the very groggy Remus. 

“It is a little more than 2200 hours.”

“Standard time?”

“It’s a little past 10 pm, Remus.”

“Oh wow. Officially nighttime, huh?”

“I suppose. Although there is no official nighttime in space.”

Janus tuned the two out, preferring instead to focus on Patton again. Seeing how literally everyone is up, Janus decides it’s about time for Patton to wake up as well. It hurts him to have to bring back the peaceful-looking man to their cruel reality, but they had signed up for a job and they had to see it through. 

Patton was up with only a couple prods and seeing the usual glow of his eyes after a good sleep almost made up for his own pain. Of course that was all quickly thrown out the window as the blissful ignorance of waking up disappeared and Patton’s eyes dimmed once more. Janus gently offered him the food packets Logan had brought him and he watched sadly as his soft-spoken boyfriend ate silently. 

They all joined him, sitting down at the cafeteria table to practically inhale the packaged food in the quiet atmosphere. It tasted a lot better than it should after everything they’d been through, but he wasn’t about to complain. After they were all done and the trash thrown out, Logan explained they would now go finish the last few tasks in the engine rooms and the reactor room. Janus noticed Logan said nothing about the lack of response from Mira HQ, most likely to not worry the other two. That was probably for the best. The two of them could deal with that when the tide was calmer. 

As they walked down the hallway to the upper engine however, Patton finally broke the silence. 

“Is Roman really gone?”

The other three looked at each other quietly, but none of them were brave enough to actually answer their friend. It didn’t matter. Their silence said more than their words could have. 

Patton hummed quietly before asking another question. “Was it...right?”

Again, no answer was spoken besides the muffled thumping of their boots on metal, and no answer was given besides another quiet hum and a nod. 

“Janus, Patton, both of you finish the tasks in the reactor room,” Logan instructed when they reached the top engine room. “I believe you only have to inspect the reactor’s starting mechanisms and make sure it’s in order, and then insert the manifolds. Remus and I will take charge of the engines.” With that, Logan turned away from them, obviously ready to focus on something other than their situation. Remus gave them a grim smile before going to the right of the engine, most likely to fetch whatever tools Logan might need. Janus and Patton continued down the hallway on their own. 

“Um, Janus? Would you mind finishing the task here on your own?” Patton asked when they reached the glowing reactor. 

“Sure,” Janus answered in surprise. “But what are you going to do?”

“I… I need some alone time. There’s a lot to think through and I think I should do it alone…”

“Are you sure?” Janus asked. “You know I’m here for you, right? I can help-”

“It’s fine, Janus,” Patton snapped and Janus immediately shut up. Patton’s gaze softened at his reaction and his smaller form slouched. “Sorry, I just… I need to do this alone. But thank you. I’ll call you if I need you.” Then Patton was walking out of the reactor room and across the hall and Janus felt as if his world was shattering again. 

Patton felt bad leaving Janus as he had, but he really did need this time to himself. He would make up for it later, but right now he just… he just needed this. He’d slept for over 6 hours apparently, _right after the murder of another friend and the condemnation of another the latter of which he barely even remembered happening_ , and he had to work through all his thoughts. 

He sat heavily on the chair in front of the security screen, idly moving his hand over the computer’s control system to switch the camera views. He purposefully avoided the camera by the Navigation hallway deciding he was probably messed up enough as it was. He wondered if one of the others, besides Janus, had seen the scene. If they’d tried to fix it. If they were braver than him. But he wasn’t brave enough himself to check. Besides, Janus would probably not let him anyway. 

He kept surfing over the camera feeds, all of which were empty since they only covered hallways. The silent video allowed him to lose himself in the changing, empty images. It filled him with a numb serenity, watching the small flickers of the screens. It made it easier to think and made those thoughts clearer too. 

He doesn’t know how long he’s spent staring blankly at the screens as his mind goes through everything that has happened, slowly untangling, organizing, and storing. His trance is broken when he notices a change in one of the screens. 

It’s Remus. 

The man is coming down the hall from the upper engine, his green suit making him easily noticeable against the bright lighting of the metallic hall. 

The new sensory input brought even more as he slowly became aware of more than just what he saw. Now he could feel a comforting cold seeping through his suit from the chair he sat on and he could hear Remus thumping footsteps coming closer. Patton kept facing the camera even as he watched Remus disappear out of the camera's range and into the Reactor room, where Remus was. He could slightly hear the two talking, so he relaxed a little, slightly comforted by the fact that he would probably be able to hear if something happened in there. Of course, that would only happen if they’d been wrong about Roman being the killer and Patton didn’t really want to think about that. However, please forgive him if he was still feeling a bit paranoid. 

Then Remus and Janus seemed to share their farewells and Patton heard the now familiar footsteps begin to walk across the hall again. Remus appeared on the camera again and Patton noted this time Remus was coming his way. 

He barely had a moment to prepare himself mentally to talk to anyone before Remus was in the room. 

“Hey Pat-cake, how are you doing?” Remus asked in his usual casual way. 

Patton forced himself to relax his tense body as he turned in the chair to meet his friend. “As well as I can be, kiddo,” he answered lightly, forcing a smile. “How about you? What are you doing down here?”

“Logan asked me to go check on the lower engine and fix it wherever it needed it. I thought I check on you and Jan-Jan on the way. Gotta make sure our mom friend and wine aunt stay alive,” he joked. “Otherwise the rest of us will be goners. Well, Logan and I. There’s… no more rest of us cuz, um, everyone else is kind of...dead...um….” 

Remus trailed off into an awkward silence. 

“Sorry,” he tried again. “I… I’m not really sure how to deal with all this…”

Patton nodded slowly, completely relating to Remus at that moment. This was something so out of his comfort zone he felt a little stuck on what to do now. On the other hand, this was practically in Remus’ comfort zone although a lot more realistic than was comfortable and it probably created the same reaction in him. Like, sure Remus had often bickered with his brother and their relationship had not been the best until a few years ago. Meanwhile, he’d been with Virgil since practically childhood and the broody boy had been one of the few that had stuck by him, along with Janus. And despite Remus not often acknowledging that out loud, Patton had been able to see the care in Remus eyes. Now both were gone. 

But despite being able to perhaps relate with Remus, Patton still stayed in his shell. 

“Well, you don’t need to worry about me, Remus. Your cool Dad-Patt friend has got it handled for now.” 

Remus nodded slowly, the casual smile on his face keeping his thoughts hidden as he studied Patton’s face before the smile widened and a small chuckle came out. 

“You’ve always been bad at lying. It’s a good thing I’ve never been as naive and gullible as the others.” 

Patton tensed at Remus words, preparing his defenses for whatever interrogatory questions would surely follow his words. However, he was surprised, and very relieved, with the younger’s next words. 

“I won’t push you, Pat,” Remus said, watching the other. “I doubt you would truly open up anyway. Even if you did, I’m not the best one to offer comfort. You know how I am. But at least tell someone else. Logan says talking to others about feelings is good for emotional stability or something, I don’t know. He’s a little of a hypocrite in that area, and so am I, I guess, but I think you know what I mean. And I think you would fare much better with it than either of us emotionally constipated bastards. So, yeah,” he ends awkwardly. “I just thought I’d say that… Stay cool Pat-Dad.” Then Remus took his quick exit, leaving Patton by himself again. He couldn’t laugh at the childish awkwardness Remus had been displaying, but he was able to at least smile at it. Seeing Remus try to offer some comfort despite not being the type to do so brought him some warmth that took the edge of his numb soul and cleared some of the fog of his messy mind. Patton turned back around in his chair, wishing he had reacted in those vulnerable moments and given Remus a hug. Sure, Remus was not good at displaying emotions in a comforting way, but Patton was and he knew Remus needed some of that. Maybe he’d give him a hug when he came back. 

Feeling noticeably lighter, Patton continued to skim through the camera feeds in front of him. He obviously wasn’t ‘perfect’ already, but he felt a bit better and maybe this could help him better deal with things. _Maybe I will take Remus’ advice_ , he thought as another empty hall flashed before him. _I could go back and talk to Janus_.

He was making up his mind when he heard a creak from behind him. He swiveled around immediately, completely startled since he hadn’t heard anyone walkin towards him or seen anyone in the computer in front of him. Of course, once he saw the source of the sound he knew why. 

“Who ar-mMMM!”

“This was very unprofessional of me.”

Patton struggled desperately against the arms gripping his torso and covering his mouth and nose. He kept trying to scream against the hand, but the lack of air was beginning to hurt his head. Meanwhile, the arms holding him down didn’t seem to get any weaker against his desperate movements. Instead he seemed to be the one slowing down. He felt himself get shaken roughly before he was being dragged away further back into the room. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest, making it ache painfully as he tried to inhale the air his chest so desperately moved for. 

Then he felt one of the arms holding him let go and Patton tried once more to break free, but the other hand only gripped his face tighter. He let out a muffled whimper of pain as fingers ground into his cheek, raising his own hands to grab at the offending hand. He had barely gotten his feet under him from being dragged back when, in less than a split second, something cold pressed against his throat before disappearing just as fast. 

Patton stared up at the darkening ceiling from where he vaguely noticed he was laying on the floor. He was still processing the slowly numbing pain and the new warmth flowing down his neck. He knew he needed oxygen, and he knew he was trying to breathe in but nothing... _nothing was happening. He could hear gurgling, was it gurgling? His hearing was disappearing. Something was in his mouth, he should get it out, but when he did there was just more? So he tried again and again and again...there was no air, he needed air, why couldn’t he breathe! The person...the stranger...help me...help me please! Oh god everything is turning dark...he’s so cold...lightheaded...fire in his chest...air! Please! Help me! Help me……._

“Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen yet. My mistake.”

///////////////////////////////////////

“AHHHHHHH!!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe, I just did that. ^-^
> 
> I hope this makes up for my time away, lol.   
> If you guys like it, leave a kudos if you can, and maybe even a comment. 
> 
> Anyway, that’s it for now! Stay healthy and safe, everyone, wherever you are!  
> Till next time~!


End file.
